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So is my wife, dfelt. The whole commuting together ritual is getting to be a pain in the arse, seeing as how she sometimes (say 3x's a week) needs to stay beyond 5:00 PM and we need to be home by 6:00 PM for our children (well, at least one of us). My work schedule & department are more flexible with coming and going, where her department is more rigid in start & end times. We've been compromising for the past year & a half, and days we can't compromise we take separate vehicles (I hate putting all that mileage on my Envoy, and the gas it consumes). Either we lease a small commuter car, like the Spark, so I can take the G6 (which already has a lot of miles from her commuting with it the past four years), or we look at a decent but older used car (I've found two '97 Chevy Lumina sedans that have under 90k in mileage that seem pretty affordable as an added commuter car). The wife would really like the Spark, though we could benefit from the added vehicle now and not "summer".

Does anyone know the on-sale date of the Chevy Spark? My wife really loves this car, and we're considering a cheap lease vehicle for work commuting (I tried to get her interested in the Sonic hatchback at the NYIAS to no avail). The Chevy spokespersons told us that they'll be available in summer, but had no concrete date. Are they being built yet?

Torano was a dream in a bucket in 2004. Times and priorities have changed. We may see something like it but there are greater needs. That show car came at a time the Alpha was only an idea and not much more, Reality and time can change priorities.

The Impala and XTS will take this platform to the next level but how many times should a company evolve a platform before it is replaced. the W body is a good example. While was imporved it was far from world class. Owned the best and last W version and while it was a good car I do not miss it in any way. The warts still stick out on that car compared to other vehicles GM and other have done. That is one platform that should never have gone more than 12-15 years, And that is a streach.

The Alpha when shared globally with several lines [since it can be adapted to several very different cars] can be done at lower volumes. Also the fact Cadillac did much of the investment it will help the others have a better car with less investment. We now need to look at total volume of platforms on a global basis not market basis.

Cars do take a while to produce, and to build a brand takes even longer. But my complaint with Cadillac is why they didn't do more earlier on. Even if you say the management of the 80s was too clueless to see the imports coming, or how much of a threat Lexus would be, and give a pass on that. Fast forward to the late 90s when they realized they were in trouble, and decided to do Sigma. In 2003 when the first CTS came out, then STS, SRX, XLR, they should have been planning the replacements. Instead they re-did the CTS on the same chassis and killed the other 3 off. When Mercedes puts out a new S-class, they then go to work on the replacement, so that 6 years later they have another S-class to put on sale. Then they don't get caught with holes in the lineup or needing stop gaps.

Yep; it's been about some lack of consistency in the brand's direction (apart from the styling theme which IMO has been coehese).

I really believe a few here do not understand the scope of the work that is going on with the lack of leaks. Also I don't think a few understand the cost of programs like Alpha, the Trucks large and small, The Omega and the electric car programs cost in dollars and man power take to do all at one time.

GM does not have a history of cost overruns and mistakes? Sorry, I like watching companies that make silk purses out of sow's ears... like Holden... or even Dodge during the dark days when it was that the Magnum was not going to cover the Intrepid, and Dodge got the Charger out in short time.

In this day and age few companies can take on the amount of development going on at GM right now. Most anymore have to share platforms, do joint partnerships, pay others to develope technology or sell out to another company just to keep alive. GM is doing more than just about any car company out there on their own.

While other struggle like Mazda and Mitsubishi to remain alive and others like cash flush BMW still have to pay companies like GM or ZF to design transmissions, GM for the most is doing it on their own. Outside VW and Toyota or Fiat few companies have the strength to take on as much as GM. Even Honda could not afford to do everyting GM is doing at this moment.

Last I checked, GM outsourced plenty of parts, so GM is no island. Tremec, CPI and A123Systems come immediately to mind.

Sorry they may have good cars but they were far from Silk purses.

Everyone in the industry has turned to part suppliers. What I speak of is where an Auto mfg goes to another auto mfg to buy parts they built for them. The only cases I recall here is where Ford help fund the transmission GM built for them to share. But that was another case where GM did most of the work and got paid to do it then used the tranny for themselves. Also the Honda V6 in the Saturn but I suspect that was a desperate attempt to attract buyers at a time Saturn was dying.